Frankel's Oxagon In Command In The Craven

In a renewal of Newmarket's G3 Craven Stakes robbed of a star turn in Hawk Mountain (Wootton Bassett) and of another of interest in Hankelow (Night Of Thunder) due to the quickening ground, it was TDN Rising Star Oxagon (Frankel) who benefitted under enterprising tactics.

Sent off the 7-4 second favourite due to the defections, last year's Champagne Stakes runner-up who was sporting first-time cheekpieces was sent straight to the front by Oisin Murphy and dictated to suit.

Applying the pressure on the approach to the dip, Prince Faisal's homebred who had been fifth in the Dewhurst and the Futurity Trophy in the autumn stayed on strongly to score by two lengths from Avicenna (Starspangledbanner). The 11-10 favourite Hidden Force (Frankel) was 3/4 of a length away in third.

“He's the perfect model, a good mover and has a nice temperament and he was very professional today,” Murphy said. “He was focused in the cheekpieces and hopefully he can go on now to bigger and better things. He will get a mile and a quarter in time.”

John Gosden is looking at the main event in just over two weeks' time. “After he won at Sandown last season, we had a high opinion of him and he probably let the race get away from him in Doncaster, was a tad disappointing in the Dewhurst and I then stupidly ran him in heavy ground at Doncaster,” he said. “He has trained well this year and I think the addition of cheekpieces has just focused his mind today.”

“He is one of those horses that things come easily to and he can be a little bit dreamy at home–he is always looking for low-flying seagulls,” he added. “Oisin feels it's an open Guineas and we should go for it. He is a nice horse and deserves to take his chance.”

Avicenna's trainer Roger Varian believes the runner-up did enough to warrant a tilt at either the 2,000 Guineas or Poule d'Essai des Poulains. “It is a hard track to make up ground when it rides quick, it was messy early and they didn't go very quick, the winner is a good horse and probably had the run of the race, so I'm really pleased,” he said.

“I think there is a lot of improvement in him. I said openly coming in here, this is a trial race and we will use it as a trial,” he added. “For me, he has run well enough that we ought to consider Newmarket or Longchamp. His form was strong last year, but he needed a bit more practice and to learn and he would have done that today. It is looking quite an open year across both Guineas at the moment and he looks worthy of being in contention for one or the other.”

Charlie Appleby revealed that Hidden Force had disappointed him and wouldn't be in the 2,000 Guineas picture. “Off today's evidence, Hidden Force won't be going towards the Guineas,” he stated. “The two gallopers there from Tuesday have both come out of their gallops well. Distant Storm and King's Trail are well on target for it and the one that could join the party is Talk Of New York. That decision won't be made until next week.”

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✅ Oxagon wins the G3 @betway Craven Stakes pic.twitter.com/nQplPFc3oN

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) April 16, 2026

Pedigree Notes
Oxagon's dam Endless Charm (Dubawi) is a daughter of the G3 Premio Sergio Cumani winner Whazzis (Desert Prince) descended from Prince Faisal's legendary Eljazzi (Artaius). That links her with Invincible Spirit and many others who flew the flag for this operation and, more recently, the likes of Frankel's Delius, Uni (More Than Ready), James Garfield (Exceed And Excel), JM Jungle (Bungle Inthejungle) and Wimbledon Hawkeye (Kameko). Her two-year-old colt Farasan is by Teofilo, while she also has a filly foal by Camelot.